November 2007

The UK’s population could almost double within a lifetime to more than 100 million, new figures have shown. A combination of record immigration, high fertility rates and longer life expectancy could push the numbers to 108 million by 2081. The extraordinary estimate issued by the Office for National Statistics yesterday came as a parliamentary committee heard evidence of the growing impact on schools and hospitals. One teachers’ leader said some schools were ”struggling to cope” because they had not been given enough money to deal with the influx.

The most likely forecast based on current trends is that the population will rise to 71m in 2031 and to 85m in 2081, but if birth rates grow more quickly than expected, immigration remains high and people live longer this could reach 108 million – nearly twice today’s 60m. High immigration is also fuelling a baby boom because new arrivals tend to be younger and to have larger families than the indigenous population.

David Davis, the shadow home secretary, said: ‘This confirms what we have been telling the Government all along. ”Labour needs to wake up and understand the factors driving population change as well as the solutions.”

Sir Andrew Green, the chairman of Migrationwatch, said: “Our country is already facing massive changes as a result of the government’s failure to control our borders. ”These population projections are a sharp reminder of what could well happen if they continue to fail to take firm and effective action to bring a halt to the mass immigration which they have stimulated.”

Liam Byrne, the immigration minister, said: “These projections show what might happen in 75 years’ time unless we take action now. “Frankly, it underlines the need for the swift and sweeping changes we are bringing to the immigration system in the next 12 months, which will include the introduction of an Australian-style points-based system, so only those that Britain needs can come to work and study.”

The figures were published as representatives of teachers, doctors and nurses spoke of the impact of migration on the public services. In evidence to a House of Lords committee inquiry into the impact of immigration, Steve Sinnott, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said a phenomenon once limited to urban areas was now affecting rural primary schools which needed more expert staff and specialist books for pupils who speak no English. “We do have schools where we have had significant, large numbers of youngsters appearing very quickly,” he said. “We have had schools in London where on a Friday afternoon the head has arrived with seven or eight youngsters and taken them to a GCSE English class and none of the youngsters can speak English. ‘’The teachers have been pulling their hair out,’’ he said.

Mick Brookes, general secretary of the head teachers’ union NAHT, said the education of both migrant and local pupils was at risk in some schools. “Some schools are struggling to cope,’’ he said. “The capacity to do the best they can for the local children – and the children who are coming in – is being stretched.’’

An analysis by the union suggested that extra Government funding for each immigrant child would only pay for about three weeks of a teaching assistant’s time. Josie Irwin of the Royal College of Nursing said there was only anecdotal evidence about the impact of immigration on hospitals but there were ”particular difficulties” in the inner cities.

Prof David Blanchflower, a member of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee, predicted a second wave of migration from eastern Europe as the current well-educated arrivals gain new skills and get better jobs. He believed the flow from the east was ”inexorable” and probably had not peaked. Prof Blanchflower expected another inflow of Poles and other EU nationals from Ireland, which has seen a greater number of arrivals proportionately than the UK but where work is drying up. There would be a new migration to help London prepare to the Olympics in 2012, he added. Prof Blanchflower said there was evidence that the high levels of immigration were depressing wages among low-skilled workers, something the Government has disputed.

People who have been smuggled into Sweden should be deported, a leading Social Democrat politician has said. Allowing those who have paid thousands to people smugglers to stay is not fair on people who can’t afford to pay to leave their homelands. Goran Johansson, leader of Gothenburg Council, said he based his views on the fact that many of the 20,000 Iraqis expected to come to Sweden this year came here illegally, often with the help of people smugglers.

“If it is obvious that someone has been smuggled in they should be sent back again,” Johansson told newspaper GT. People pay around 100,000 kronor ($16,000) each to be brought to Sweden. “We should never accept this. By not saying anything we are tacitly accepting people smuggling,” Johansson said.

Johansson admitted that his idea, if put into practice, would lead to more people being returned directly to their homelands. “Then they can come back by the normal route,” he said. He added that it was immoral for money to decide who would make it to Sweden. “There may be those who can’t scrape together 100,000 kronor whose need to come here is perhaps greater. But they don’t get a chance,” he said.

Note here that it is Melanesians (blacks) calling for the expulsion of Melanesians

FEDERAL officers are preparing an unprecedented sweep through the Torres Strait to deport Papua New Guineans illegally living on some of Australia’s most remote territory. Community leaders in the Torres Strait held emergency meetings with immigration officials last week, after a surge in the number of people arriving from PNG, securing a commitment to have them deported. An immigration spokesman yesterday refused to discuss the coming operation, but confirmed meetings with community leaders had recently taken place. “The department has held recent meetings with councils in the Torres Strait. However, we will not discuss operational details,” the spokesman said.

Thursday Island Mayor Pedro Stephen said communities including Saibai, Boigu, Iama, Masig, Dauan, Erub and Badu islands were in danger of being annexed by PNG because of the large number of illegal arrivals. “All seem to have more PNG nationals living there than local islanders,” Mr Stephen said. “They are coming and taking over all the businesses.” The situation has become particularly bad on Saibai Island in northern Torres Strait, where as many as 300 of the immigrants, dubbed “overstayers” by the locals, have strained resources and almost run the islands limited water supply dry.

Mr Stephen said the Torres Strait Treaty, which came into effect in 1985 and allows the movement of people between PNG and the Australian islands, needed to be rewritten to ensure economic development in PNG’s Western Province. “There’s been nothing built there for decades. What you have is the Third World just a stone’s throw from an Australian community,” Mr Stephen said. “It’s no wonder they travel to access services. They’ve got nothing at home.”

Even the most senior PNG national in Torres Strait, the Reverend Lawes Waia, who lives on Thursday Island, just off the tip of Cape York, has called for the borders to be closed and the Torres Strait Treaty to be torn up. “Whether we drink contaminated water, whether we carry sickness and diseases on our bodies, whether no government services are reaching us, let’s stop bothering the Torres Strait Islanders with their island facilities and resources. Please close the border now and put all words into action,” Mr Waia said.

Mr Stephen said communities in the northern Torres Strait were concerned the numbers might become so great they would wind up becoming PNG territory. “You have to remember that when the Torres Strait treaty was signed, PNG wanted to basically cut the strait in half and administer the islands north of Badu,” Mr Stephen said. “A lot of people remember that and think maybe this is a way of getting those islands.”

A senior Saibai Island community member, who asked not to be named, said the PNG nationals ignored local immigration officers, and had built a filthy shanty town on the northern edge of the island. “We are pleased the Department of Immigration is finally going to do something,” the local said. “These people have brought diseases which we can not cope with. It is not good for our community.”

The outspoken former Smiths singer Morrissey has found himself at the centre of a row after alleged comments about immigration and its impact on British identity in a magazine interview. The star, who has enjoyed a highly successful solo career since the band’s split, reportedly told the music magazine NME that Britain had suffered an “immigration explosion”, adding: “England is a memory now”. “The gates are flooded and anybody can have access to England and join in,” he was reported as telling NME reporter Tim Jonze.

According to the magazine, the singer – who now lives in Rome – said that while he didn’t have anything against people from other countries, “the higher the influx into England the more the British identity disappears”. “The British identity is very attractive, I grew up into it and I find it quaint and very amusing,” he went on. “Other countries have held on to their basic identity yet it seems to me that England was thrown away.”

He said that while immigration does enrich the British identity, it meant saying goodbye to “the Britain you once knew”. “The change in England is so rapid compared to the change in any other country. “If you walk through Knightsbridge on any bland day of the week you won’t hear an English accent. You’ll hear every accent under the sun apart from the British accent.”

He was challenged over the comments in a second interview, in which he insisted he did not intend to be “inflammatory”. “I find racism very silly,” he said. “Almost too silly to discuss. It’s beyond reason. And makes no sense and is ludicrous. I’ve never heard a good argument in favour of racism.”

But his alleged comments, published in the magazine today, sparked outrage among some fans who said they would boycott the singer’s Best Of album due to be released in the new year. One, named Slimjim, of Bradford, wrote on an internet message board: “It’s totally out of order. Morrissey sounds like a Tory MP these days. It’s a disgrace. I’ll think twice about buying his next album.”

It is not the first time he has caused controversy, nor the first time he has fallen out with the magazine’s editors. In 1992, he was criticised by NME after he appeared on stage in Finsbury Park to support Madness wrapped in a Union Jack flag. Some of his song titles and lyrics have also attracted criticism, including the tracks Bengali in Platforms and National Front Disco, which included the lyrics: `You’ve gone to the National Front Disco/Because you want the day to come sooner’.

But his manager responded angrily, accusing NME of a “poorly thought out and terribly executed attempt at character assassination” of the 48-year-old. “Anti-racist songs such as “Irish Blood, English Heart,” “America Is Not The World” and “I Will See You In Far-Off Places” tell you the true measure of the man,” Merck Mercuriadis wrote on the Morrissey fan website True To You.

Dr Rob Berkeley, deputy director of the Runnymede Trust, which campaigns for equality and justice, said that while he did not agree with Morrissey’s comments, his views were not that uncommon.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero called for stronger European Union border defenses to control the influx of illegal immigrants to the continent – the brunt of which is borne by Spain. Zapatero told the European Parliament on Wednesday that the EU border agency, Frontex, must be strengthened and EU cooperation enhanced to fight illegal immigration.

Thousands of Sub-Saharan migrants try to reach Spain by sailing in rickety wooden boats from West Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands, just off the coast of Morocco. The dangerous trip can take more than a week and is often deadly. About 24,000 migrants were caught trying to reach Spain last year, compared to less than 10,000 so far this year.

I wonder if the Democrat Presidential candidates will learn that lesson in time? Best if they don’t maybe. There is enough hypocrisy in politics already

Tom Selders is still baffled at how quickly the city he served for years turned on him. The two-term mayor of this conservative farm town had been a political fixture for nearly two decades. A businessman who prided himself on bringing efficiency to city government, Selders infuriated his constituents after jumping into the national debate over illegal immigration. In May he spoke at an open forum in Washington about the effects of last year’s immigration raid on a meatpacking plant here, which led to the detention of 262 undocumented workers. “Many families and children were devastated by parents being arrested and detained,” Selders said. “Children — citizens of the United States — were left without parents.”

The reaction in Greeley, whose Latino population has nearly tripled since 1980, was swift and furious. Selders, who was seeking a third term as mayor, was overwhelmed with angry calls. He became a regular target on local talk radio. A mailer linking him to illegal immigrant gang members flooded mailboxes. Earlier this month Selders was ousted from the nonpartisan post, losing to a retired police officer by a 3-2 margin.

“I really feel betrayed by my community,” said Selders, 61. “There’s a big contingent of people in this community who are just full of anger and hate about illegal immigration, and that anger and hate has been transferred to me.”

What happened to Selders, a lifelong Republican, is a cautionary tale of the politics of illegal immigration. To some, it shows how a good man trying to do the right thing was taken down by the forces of intolerance. To others, it shows what can happen to elitist politicians who dismiss voters’ frustrations over unchecked illegal immigration. “A lot of people in Weld County remained silent” as people like Selders criticized the December 2006 raid, said County Dist. Atty. Kenneth R. Buck, who supported Selders’ opponent. “They don’t want to be called racist, they don’t want their business to be boycotted. . . . There were a lot of people who were waiting to be heard in their anonymous way.” ….

Opponents of illegal immigration are elated to see Selders go. “Now it’s going to change,” Breuer said. “People who don’t want to follow the laws will get out of here.” Immigrants rights activists in Greeley are still in a state of shock and wonder whether they missed a chance to help a rare ally. Selders’ campaign got some support in the heavily Latino neighborhoods, said activist Sylvia Martinez. “People didn’t believe [in Selders] because he is white, because he is a Republican, because he is a businessman,” [bigotry?] she said. “I don’t think a lot of people believed he was running for his life.”

Schools are struggling to cover the cost of providing specialist teachers for thousands of new immigrant pupils, headteachers warned today. Forty per cent of primary age children in London now speak a language other than English at home and some schools take several new arrivals a week as pupils “appear from nowhere”, heads have said. The National Association of Head Teachers called for schools to be given the “infrastructure” they needed to get pupils whose first language is not English fluent enough to cope with the national curriculum as soon as possible.

The NAHT warned that the Government’s Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant, which is doled out by Whitehall to town halls to allocate among schools according to need, was failing to cover the cost of English as an Additional Language teachers. NAHT leader Mick Brookes said: “These children are welcome in our schools but we need the capacity to look after them properly.”

Latest government figures show that the capital’s primary schools alone took in more than 197,000 children for whom English is not their first language this year, up from just over 190,000 last year. Secondary schools’ proportion of non-native English speakers rose from 33.5 per cent to 35.3 per cent. Most are concentrated in inner London – in Tower Hamlets, three quarters of children in primary schools are now not native English speakers.

Ofsted research has shown that primary schools typically spent their EMAG on a single EAL teacher, supported by a classroom assistant. But Ofsted also found that primary schools with a track record of successfully integrating EAL pupils were forced to find thousands of pounds more from their general budgets. Most had suffered cuts in their EMAG grants. “Schools were pessimistic about being able to sustain the excellent work they had built up over the years if funding continued to decline,” said Ofsted.

Clarissa Williams, head of Tolworth Girls’ School in Kingston, said she got œ1,300 from the Government to teach English to foreign pupils, and topped that up with another 30,000 pounds. “These children just turn up on your doorstep and it places a significant additional strain on budgets,” she said. A spokesman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families insisted the EMAG was keeping up with demand, saying it was going up from 178.6million this year to 206.6million in 2010-11.

Background

The "line" of this blog is that immigration should be SELECTIVE. That means that:

1). A national government should be in control of it. The U.S. and U.K. governments are not but the Australian government has shown that the government of a prosperous Western country can be. Up until its loss of office in 2007, the conservative Howard government had all but eliminated illegal immigration. The present Leftist government has however restarted the flow of illegals by repealing many of the Howard government regulations.

2). Selectivity should be based on "the content of a man's character, not on the color of his skin", as MLK said. To expand that a little: Immigrants should only be accepted if they as individuals seem likely to make a positive net contribution to the country. Many "refugees" would fail that test: Muslims and Africans particularly. Educational level should usually be a pretty fair proxy for the individual's likely value to the receiving country. There will, of course, be exceptions but it is nonetheless unlikely that a person who has not successfully completed High School will make a net positive contribution to a modern Western society.

3). Immigrants should be neither barred NOR ACCEPTED solely because they are of some particular ethnic origin. Blacks are vastly more likely to be criminal than are whites or Chinese, for instance, but some whites and some Chinese are criminal. It is the criminality that should matter, not the race.

4). The above ideas are not particularly blue-sky. They roughly describe the policies of the country where I live -- Australia. I am critical of Australian policy only insofar as the "refugee" category for admission is concerned. All governments have tended to admit as refugees many undesirables. It seems to me that more should be required of them before refugees are admitted -- for instance a higher level of education or a business background.

5). Perhaps the most amusing assertion in the immigration debate is that high-income countries like the USA and Britain NEED illegal immigrants to do low-paid menial work. "Who will pick our crops?" (etc.) is the cry. How odd it is then that Australians get all the normal services of a modern economy WITHOUT illegal immigrants! Yes: You usually CAN buy a lettuce in Australia for a dollar or thereabouts. And Australia IS a major exporter of primary products.

6). I am a libertarian conservative so I reject the "open door" policy favoured by many libertarians and many Leftists. Both those groups tend to have a love of simplistic generalizations that fail to deal with the complexity of the real world. It seems to me that if a person has the right to say whom he/she will have living with him/her in his/her own house, so a nation has the right to admit to living among them only those individuals whom they choose.

I can be reached on jonjayray@hotmail.com -- or leave a comment on any post. Abusive comments will be deleted.